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An 800 sqft driveway at $0.20 quotes $160 and clears $88 — but only because the drive, the chemicals, and the $5,000 rig are all in the cost.
Pressure washing is the classic “high margin” side business — until the drive time, chemicals, and a $5,000 rig get priced in honestly. This calculator does it right: square footage times your rate sets the quote, then the true cost comes out — chemicals, machine amortization, fuel, and labor for the hours on site AND behind the wheel. An 800 sqft driveway at $0.20/sqft quotes $160 and clears $88 at an effective $80/hr; a 2,400 sqft house soft-wash at $0.14 is a $336 ticket. See the margin before you say yes, and learn why the $99 minimum service fee is the rule that keeps small jobs from being charity.
Wash operators use it before quoting: an 800 sqft driveway at $0.20 clears $88 at $80/hr effective — because the rig, chemicals, and drive time are all priced in.
Because small jobs carry the same fixed trip cost as big ones. Any job under about 45 minutes of work still costs the drive, the setup, the fuel, and the rig line — at this calculator’s defaults that fixed floor is about $55 before a square foot is washed. A $99–125 minimum means the smallest job still pays; without it, “quick little jobs” are the fastest route to a busy, broke season. The same logic drives route density: three driveways on one street share the drive three ways and beat three scattered jobs at higher rates. Market your minimum as a feature — “our $125 visit covers your driveway AND walkways” — and the upsells that share a trip (house wash plus driveway plus patio) are pure margin because the fixed cost is already paid.
The method changes the cost structure, so yes. Flatwork (driveways, sidewalks) is pressure work — fast, chemical-light, priced at $0.15–0.25/sqft. Roofs, siding, and painted surfaces want soft wash — low pressure where the chemical does the work — priced $0.10–0.16/sqft for area but carrying a heavier chemical line (batch mixing SH is cheap per gallon but the dwell time is real labor). Pricing soft wash like flatwork undercharges the chemistry and overworks the machine; pricing flatwork like soft wash leaves money on the table. Decks and fences sit between at $0.20–0.35 by condition. Know your actual sqft-per-hour by surface from your job log — that number, more than any rate table, is what this calculator sharpens.
Brutally, in most markets: pressure washing compresses into 8–9 working months, so the jobs-per-year input should reflect the REAL season — 300 jobs is a full solo year — and the rig amortization keeps ticking through winter whether you do. Two honest responses: price the season into the rate (the quote carries 12 months of rig in 9 months of work) and build the off-season revenue — holiday light installs, gutter cleaning, and fleet washing contracts are the classic winter bridges because they use the same truck, rig, and customer list. The operators who survive year two are the ones who ran these numbers in month one: 300 jobs at $160 average and 55% margin is $26,400 of profit on a $5,000 rig — a real business, but only if the jobs-per-year is honest.